A bit of advice to change your Chicago office into a paper-reduced office

In every office there is someone who is obsessed with the latest tech and the one in ours predicts that our office is going to become a paperless office, an office that is conscious of the environment so doesn't use paper. At presently we cannot know if this prophecy will come true but any office can cut back on paper and reap all of the benefits.

There are many reasons why a Chicago modern office shout make paper cut backs, for one there is a lot of money to be saved, then there are blatant environmental benefits and also because low-tech paper is not the safest way to keep private data protected.

So if you are about to move your company to a new Chicago office in a new location then here are some pieces of advice to make it a modern, 21st century, paper-free office; as compiled by www.office-suites.com.

1) Firstly, work out where in Chicago is your nearest recycling facility. As a manager you need to work out where the recycling facility is and how long it will take to get there. It will also be of benefits to arrange a collection service, as depending on where in Chicago you are based it might be quite a distance to the facility.

2) Next, try and use emails rather than snail mail. Perhaps one of the most efficient ways to cut back on the amount of paper your office uses is to use emails and instead messaging instead of fax machines, memos and sending letters. By doing this you will reduce the outgoings of the office and you will also make employees a lot more efficient as they will not longer have to travel through the office when passing on a letter but instead they will be able to click the button to send that email.

3) The daily papers, magazines and journals and marketing materials can all be received electronically, which means there is no longer a need for a paper copy. In fact, this use of paper is just a blatant waste of paper that is completely damaging out environment and costing your company thousands. What I mean is that over 80 percent of time magazines will undoubtedly end up in the garbage bin, so it is just like throwing money in the bin. Also by opting for a digital copy via email you can then utilise those articles more easily in presentations and reports.

4) Maybe a white board could replace the need for post-its. You office employees will need a place to make notes and usually this is on a yellow post-it note but in a low paper office you could buy a whiteboard and use that instead. This is the case as it is reusable and is really good way to make handy notes or jot down business ideas or reminders. Therefore if you invest in a whiteboard you will be able to save a lot of money on the wasteful usage of office paper. So if you have just moved into Chicago office space from www.office-suites.com, then go to the nearest stationary shop for a white board.

5) Also remember that reducing paper usage doesn't just mean stop using A4 paper. It also means using an air heater to dry your hands in the bathroom rather than paper towels and by using ceramic cups instead of disposable paper cups. There is endless amount of things you can do to cut back on paper consumption in the office, it might just be something simple like putting a few posters on the walls to encourage staff to minimise their use of paper.

Quite recently one of our associative firms made the move to a Chicago office and they made the most of the upheaval by using it as an opportunity to instil change paper usage habits. In the end they saved quite a lot of money and their workers became very efficient when using paper.